Forget debt - it's our jobs we're worried about

For all the debate about debt and taxes,polling showsone issue reigns supreme when it comes to economic management: employment.By Peter Lewis and Jackie Woods.

Politicians are often accused of being out of touch with the rest of us. But we do have something in common: fear of losing our jobs.

As Coalition ministers attempt to secure their jobs beyond 2016, they have battled through unimpressive honeymoon polling to develop a tough-guy economic narrative: no more handouts for you!

Businesses and workers alike, it's time to stand on your own two feet (nobody mention the diesel fuel rebate, or paid parental leave, or high-income super tax breaks).

But as Essential's polling this week shows, levels of job insecurity in the electorate are high and rising. We're worried about our jobs - and the Government's hands-off approach to industry support risks hitting a raw nerve.

With unemployment hitting a 10-year high last week - and another 980 job losses at Alcoa adding to the mounting toll - it's questionable whether the Federal Government's job creation recipe of tax cuts, less red tape and war on union-negotiated working conditions can deliver either on jobs or voters' sense of optimism.

This week's numbers show that levels of anxiety about job security have risen sharply since the federal election and are the highest they've been since we started asking the question in 2009.

Q. How concerned are you that you or some member of your immediate family will lose their job in the next year or so: very concerned, somewhat concerned, or not at all concerned?

Total

Vote Labor

Vote Lib/Nat

Vote Greens

Vote other

Aug 2012

Total concerned

55%

62%

48%

54%

56%

47%

Very concerned

22%

28%

14%

22%

23%

13%

Somewhat concerned

33%

34%

34%

32%

33%

34%

Not at all concerned

31%

26%

40%

43%

29%

37%

Don't know

6%

6%

4%

2%

9%

8%

No employees in the immediate family

8%

6%

8%

2%

9%

7%

Over half of voters are concerned that they or someone in their family could lose their job in the short-term future - with the 'very concerned' figure up nine points since August2012.

Concern among Labor voters is higher - either a reverse of the partisan take on the economy that saw Liberal voters so pessimistic under Labor, or a reflection of Labor voters' higher representation in industries getting hammered by job cuts - but concern is nevertheless high across the spectrum.

And while the Coalition may have had some success convincing voters that hand-outs to business are a poor use of taxpayers' money, Australians still hold a firm belief that it is government business to support Australians jobs.

We might not like giving car companies money, but we're still marking the government down for not doing more to save auto manufacturing.

Q. Do you think the Federal Government did enough or did not do enough to keep the car manufacturing industry in Australia?

Total

Vote Labor

Vote Lib/Nat

Vote Greens

Vote other

Did enough

36%

19%

63%

22%

36%

Did not do enough

46%

68%

22%

55%

54%

Don't know

17%

13%

15%

23%

10%

The vexed question of jobs is becoming a defining feature of this Parliament, with each side articulating a distinct approach: hands-off leaving it to the market in the blue corner versus hands-on supporting industry in the red.

However much or little we know about terms of trade and fiscal policy, around the kitchen table it's jobs that shape how we see the economy. Last week, we found that unemployment was the economic issue of most concern to voters (followed closely by wealth disparity).

In this climate, the side can that can convince voters they're best able to keep them in work has much to gain.

While it seems highly unlikely that scrapping the carbon tax is the economic miracle needed to avert wide-scale job losses - surely businesses would hang in for a few months if they believed that - conservatives have some natural advantage in voters' minds as the better party for managing the economy.

And Labor has impressive form in failing to gain credit for job creation success - GFC anyone? Whether they can be more convincing in opposition remains to be seen, although this week's voting intention figures showing Labor ahead with a two-party-preferred vote of 51-49 look promising.

But with the job cut headlines showing no sign of slowing down, Labor's ability to build an economic management narrative around jobs - rather than the existing story which focuses on debt - represents its best chance of defying history and being a one-term opposition.

Peter Lewis is a director of Essential Media Communications. View his full profile here. Jackie Woods is a communications consultant at Essential Media Communications. View her full profile here.